Good morning. The New York State Department of Financial Services urged insurers to better manage the risks they face from climate change, joining other regulators raising alarms about the shocks severe weather could cause the financial system.

The push by the DFS, which regulates nearly 1,800 insurers with assets totaling more than $4.7 trillion, comes amid fears of severe weather fueled by climate change spurring more losses for insurance companies. Insurance payouts for natural disasters globally stood at a record two-year total of $219 billion for 2017 and 2018, although insured losses fell last year to $50 billion from $84 billion in 2018, according to Swiss Re.

[Continued below…]

Other financial watchdogs outside the U.S. are also zeroing in on climate change. In the U.K., regulators have moved to require disclosures from pension funds and the largest companies on how climate change is hitting their investments and businesses.

“While the U.S. is behind our European counterparts in terms of climate-related supervision, we have learned from their experience, can take advantage of the supervisory tools that they have developed, and will continue collaborating with them in this area going forward,” Linda Lacewell, superintendent of the DFS, said in a letter sent to New York-based insurance companies.

A Florida asphalt company pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $16.6 million to resolve charges stemming from a foreign bribery probe spanning three South American countries. Sargeant Marine Inc., which specializes in selling and transporting asphalt, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate antibribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based company was alleged to have paid millions of dollars in bribes to government officials in Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador to win contracts from state-controlled oil companies in those countries, prosecutors said. The illicit payments helped Sargeant Marine and affiliated companies earn profits of about $38 million between about 2010 and 2018, according to the Justice Department.

China’s top commerce regulator fined Luckin Coffee and dozens of companies that helped the coffee chain inflate its sales and expenses in 2019, wrapping up a monthslong investigation into the accounting misconduct at the once-highflying company.

The State Administration for Market Regulation said it fined two Luckin entities and 43 other companies a total of 61 million yuan, equivalent to $9 million. One of those companies was previously identified in a Wall Street Journal investigation in May. The regulator, which oversees commercial and business activities in China, said Luckin also misled consumers by using falsified data in its promotions, and violated the country’s law against unfair competition.

• A Beijing court sentenced an influential businessman known for his outspoken criticism of China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to 18 years in prison, meting out harsh punishment in a corruption case that is likely to chill dissent within the Chinese political elite.
   
• Amazon is limiting the ability of some competitors to promote their rival smart speakers, video doorbells and other devices on its dominant e-commerce platform, according to Amazon employees and executives at rival companies and advertising firms. The strategy gives an edge to Amazon’s own devices, which the company regards as central to building consumer loyalty. Amazon is facing scrutiny over its treatment of competing sellers on its site.

U.S. health regulators have drafted guidelines that would require a Covid-19 vaccine to meet rigorous standards to gain a speedy clearance for use, according to people familiar with the matter, an effort to ensure the shots work safely before they are widely distributed.

A federal vaccine advisory committee, meanwhile, will put off a vote on recommending who should get initial limited doses of any in the U.S. until committee members learn more about the vaccines that could become available first, according to people familiar with the matter.

More than 200,000 people in the U.S. have died from Covid-19. Supply shortages are forcing health systems to limit who gets tested for Covid-19, hindering efforts to ramp up testing as flu season approaches.

• As Covid-19 Fatigue Fuels Infections in Europe, Italy Resists Second Wave
• Boris Johnson Introduces New Covid-19 Restrictions to Curb Second Wave in the U.K.
• Reopening Colleges Likely Fueled Covid-19 Significantly, Study Finds

• World leaders sounded alarms over the widening rift between the U.S. and China, warning that a lack of cooperation could worsen the coronavirus pandemic, slow a global economic recovery or even lead to outright conflict.
   
• An obscure part of the insurance industry that helps commodities flow smoothly around the world is seizing up, presenting another obstacle to the U.S. economy’s fitful recovery. Trade-credit insurance, a financial tool that protects trade, has been severely cut back for U.S. companies, say insurance executives, brokers and policyholders.

A Nikola executive defended the electric-truck firm’s technology and business plan, telling an investor conference that its partners are staying the course following the departure of its high-profile founder and executive chairman. “Nothing has changed,” Kim Brady, Nikola’s chief financial officer, said during a virtual conference Tuesday. “We recommend that investors really focus on the future and what we have delivered and what we’re going to deliver.”

Nikola, a Phoenix-based startup with backing from General Motors, Robert Bosch and others, has come under scrutiny recently following allegations it misled investors about the progress of its technology. The allegations were outlined in a short seller’s report released earlier this month. Nikola has called the report by Hindenburg Research false.

• Executives increasingly are using an alternative to IPOs to take their companies public, choosing to sell to what is known as a special-purpose acquisition company to attract new investors and potentially cut down on the time it takes to reach public markets.

Mars is changing the name of Uncle Ben’s rice to Ben’s Original and dropping the image of a bow-tied Black man from its packaging, the latest company to change branding rooted in racist imagery.

Mars was one of a handful of food companies that said in June that they would review or change branding on products including Cream of Wheat, Mrs. Butterworth’s and Eskimo Pie. Changes to these supermarket staples come amid a national reckoning over racism in the wake of the killings of George Floyd and other Black people by police.

• Ford Motor reached a tentative labor deal with its 5,400 unionized employees in Canada that also secures a nearly $1.5 billion investment in two plants and a commitment to build electric cars in suburban Toronto.
   
• Coffee chain Dunkin’ and hospitality stands at sports stadiums are testing a new checkout-free payment system from Mastercard as retailers try to meet shoppers’ desire for speed and reduced human contact.